Army's Smart 'Sense and Avoid' System Key to Letting Drones Cruise Domestic Skies
23 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Back in February Congress directed the Federal Aviation Administration to fast-track the integration of unmanned aerial systems into the U.S. national airspace, but it didn’t tell the FAA how exactly to do this. To fly unmanned drones in shared airspace with conventional manned aircraft (or with other drones) is dangerous without a means for planes to know where other aircraft--manned and unmanned--are. Termed “sense and avoid” (or “see and avoid”) this technology is a key but difficult piece of our drone-enabled future, and the Army just took some huge steps toward making it a reality.
The Army just wrapped a two-week trial of its Ground-Based Sense and Avoid system (GBSAA), and the results were overwhelmingly positive. There are two ways to accomplish sense and avoid: either imbue every aircraft with the sensor technology or the autonomous smarts to know when it comes into close proximity with another aircraft, or create a ground-based system that acts as a kind of automated air traffic controller for drones, notifying UAVs and their pilots when they are on dangerous paths, prompting them to alter courses.The Army has been testing the latter for use around its domestic bases via a series of “vignettes” in which it used live Shadow unmanned aircraft to demonstrate the viability of their system. In each trial, an aircraft under control by the GBSAA was threatened by an “intruder” aircraft entering the airspace. In each scenario, the system was able to recognize the potential danger in plenty of time and divert the drone under its supervision to a new path out of harm’s way.
For the Army, the system paves the way for fielding the system starting in March of 2014 at five bases, including Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. But in the larger domestic drone story, the milestone is significant as well. Functional sense and avoid systems have been a major obstacle in the path toward integration of unmanned systems into conventional airspace, and the lack of them is one reason large drones can currently only be flown with special permission from the FAA. If the Army’s sense and avoid algorithms are good enough to pass muster, civilian equivalents can’t be too far behind.[/quote]
Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/armys-new-sense-and-avoid-system-paves-way-drones-domestic-skies[/url]
Nice, with this the Q's can get much more practical experience here in the states rather than doing a lot of it on simulators or OJT in the 'Stan. Being a UAV operator is actually a lot harder than most people think.
yay, next step, drone based cargo planes
Can't wait for drone based cargo blimps.
YAY! Finally I can be monitored all the time! Just like in 1984!
[QUOTE=entertainer89;36694373]YAY! Finally I can be monitored all the time! Just like in 1984![/QUOTE] Satellites? GPS? Your phone? Facebook? Nope it needs to be drones to monitor you. Nevermind the fact mass surveillance like in 1984 would be mass inefficient.
Policies best remain strict, if at all; the first "oopsy" will make news fast.
[QUOTE=certified;36694442]Satellites? GPS? Your phone? Facebook? Nope it needs to be drones to monitor you. Nevermind the fact mass surveillance like in 1984 would be mass inefficient.[/QUOTE]
Let us all try and keep this discussion for later, because this can turn into one of [i]those kind[/i] of threads.
Besides, better the military to take this sort of step instead of some private company doing private things for private contractors.
You know, one of [i]those kind[/i] of companies.
Can't wait until these are a fixture over every Occupy-style protest in the country, scanning faces and flagging people for convenient oppression at a later date.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;36695107]Can't wait until these are a fixture over every Occupy-style protest in the country, scanning faces and flagging people for convenient oppression at a later date.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=entertainer89;36694373]YAY! Finally I can be monitored all the time! Just like in 1984![/QUOTE]
:tinfoil:
can't wait until the government is monitoring me on a day to day basis god should just turn the clock back to the 1500's when there was none of this bullshit surveillance and people were more religious
[QUOTE=entertainer89;36694373]YAY! Finally I can be monitored all the time! Just like in 1984![/QUOTE]
They fly planes with cameras on them around, OMG ORWELLIAN POLICE STATE RP 2012 FUCK THE POLICE.
I hope they'll let you fly/mantain drones without having an extremely expensive license.
[QUOTE=Disotrtion;36694345]Can't wait for drone based cargo blimps.[/QUOTE]
cargo blimps with a fleet of stored electric drone helicopters that will deliver your package right to your door?
Hell, they could have them up all the time running along routes like a train, and use the helicopter drones to pick up and drop off packages and transfer them between blimps
[QUOTE=camacazie638;36695244]:tinfoil:[/QUOTE]
Why else do you think law enforcement is clamoring for cutting them loose over Americans?
[QUOTE=Mr. Smartass;36697733]I hope they'll let you fly/mantain drones without having an extremely expensive license.[/QUOTE]You'll probably need something similar to a piloting license/certification, probably won't be as expensive though
I think drones would help a lot for
cops, hopefully you would need to get warrant to pop on the thermal vision and look at a perps house before sending in regular guys.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;36700080]Why else do you think law enforcement is clamoring for cutting them loose over Americans?[/QUOTE]
To enforce lawful practice? I sure hope so.
[QUOTE=Glitch360;36700105]You'll probably need something similar to a piloting license/certification, probably won't be as expensive though[/QUOTE]
"Yes, open up Flight Simulator and navigate to your High Scores. Now, press Control then Print Screen, huh, excuse me? Oh yes, hold down Control [i]then[/i] Print Screen. Ok, now again, but with Alt and then Tab, until your application is in front. Very nice, now Paste and click Submit! We will let you know in the next 72 hours the status of your application!"
[IMG]http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2199/callcenterteam.jpg[/IMG]
I will never understand the random hatred towards drones.
[QUOTE=galenmarek;36700647]I will never understand the random hatred towards drones.[/QUOTE]
[I]Some people[/I] think that we should take people's feelings into account before common sense, and that an American's life is "not worth more than" the people they would be fighting.
[QUOTE=certified;36694442]Satellites? GPS? Your phone? Facebook? Nope it needs to be drones to monitor you. Nevermind the fact mass surveillance like in 1984 would be mass inefficient.[/QUOTE]
yeah except all of those services are optional and can be disabled or used selectively
drones flying over major population centers with the ability to track american citizens around town isn't
[QUOTE=certified;36694442]Satellites? GPS? Your phone? Facebook? Nope it needs to be drones to monitor you. Nevermind the fact mass surveillance like in 1984 would be mass inefficient.[/QUOTE]
Implying that the government will do surveillance efficiently, just like they do everything else efficiently.
[QUOTE=galenmarek;36700647]I will never understand the random hatred towards drones.[/QUOTE]
Because removing the pilot from something pretty much every police force in a major city already has suddenly makes it awful.
[QUOTE=camacazie638;36694685]
Let us all try and keep this discussion for later, because this can turn into one of [i]those kind[/i] of threads.[/QUOTE]
I know fuck using a discussion board for discussing.
Don't really care about military drones but I am excited about fedex and similar companies showing interest in them
We're finally in the future! Unmanned aircraf- oh okay keep bitching about it and speculating about the gov't secret agenda to turn this into a 1984-esque surveillance tool.
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